‘Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull’ Trailer — Watch it Now!

The ‘Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull’ Trailer is now online. Sit back. Relax. And watch it below!!!

You’ll get a taste of Harrison Ford back in action, pompadour-sporting Shia LaBeouf and raven-haired villian Cate Blanchett. And there’s a lot of whip-snapping in the trailer. WHIP-AH!

The movie’s official website, IndianaJones.com should have a high-quality version of the trailer later today. Indiana Jones rolls into theaters nationwide on May 22.

Blake's Prison Overdose!



He's in prison, but Amy Winehouse's husband may end up in the morgue if he doesn't get his shit together!

While she focuses on her sobriety (we hope), Blake Fielder-Civil continues his drug abuse behind bars.

The bad boy was recently rushed to the prison hospital after suffering an overdose.

What a ####### idiot!

He needs to stay in prison for a long time and away from Wino.

A probe was launched and prison officers found that Blake had taken a drug believed to be heroin, mixed with a toxic substance.

Plus, to make matters worse, just days before the overdose, he was hauled in front of prison bosses for failing three random drug tests. THREE!

He was locked in solitary as a punishment, but was soon back in search of a fix.

As a result of failing the drug tests (and the overdose), Bad Blake has been banned from all contact with the outside world. That means he can't have any visitors.

Fielder-Civil is fearful over his relationship with wife Winehouse. And he should be!

Now that she's (once again, hopefully) sobering up, she will see that she doesn't need that toxic man in her life. He may end up dead soon anyways.

[Image via WENN.]

Doing It For Heath


Director Terry Gilliam has been faced with the difficult situation of finishing his film, The Imaginarium of Dr. Parnassus, which will be Heath Ledger's last movie, without him.

And, now, it seems that a solution has been reached that will allow the pic to be completed without its lead star.

Ledger's character steps through a mirror three different times and into different worlds. So three different actors will now inhabit his character's body in those segments of the film.

Those thesps are: Johnny Depp, Jude Law and Colin Farrell.

We think Heath would approve!

[Image via WENN.]

Quote of the Day



“I want people to see what I'm really like and then judge for themselves. And then if they still hate me then, that's their choice.”

- Former actress Denise Richards, on her deci$ion to do a reality TV show

[Image via Mavrix Online.]

Jared Leto Attacks Fan!



More reasons he's such a douche!

Jared Leto hit a fan with his microphone while he was crowdsurfing during a U.K. show this past week.

And, this isn't even the first time he's attacked a fan with his mic!

Douche Leto also hit a concertgoer at a festival appearance this past summer. fast forward to 3:50 to watch that violent outburst.

If you don't like being touched, don't crowdsurf.

Don't Try This At Home



Johnny Knoxville had a little accident with his **** and ***** while performing a stunt recently.

The Jackass explains all on his official blog:

"Just got back from Oklahoma where I was shooting Mat Hoffman’s tribute to Evel Knievel. Had a ball, too, even though I almost lost my own balls in the process. Don’t want to give too much away because the tribute airs Feb 23rd on MTV, but let’s just say before letting Travis Pastrana teach me how to do a backflip on a motorcycle I should have had him teach me to ride one first. Heh-heh…bad for me, good for our viewing audience at home. Have to go now. Have to empty the piss bag on my leg that I have to wear for the next two weeks until my torn urethra heals. Ouch, and see you on the 23rd. By the way, lots of great stuff in the Evel Knievel tribute besides my trip to the hospital—lots!"

Ouch!

Sources: Sam Helping Britney Fight Back

Sam Lutfi may be trying to make a federal case out of Britney Spears' travails, but it doesn't appear he's been successful just yet.

A Los Angeles Superior Court spokesperson told E! News Friday that all of the orders pertaining to Jamie Spears' conservatorship over his daughter's affairs are still being handled in the local court, contrary to reports that the case has been transferred to federal jurisdiction.

And, contrary to the efforts of Britney's dearest-if-not-so-nearest to take it there.

Sources close to the situation confirm that Lutfi, who after two weeks has yet to be served with the restraining order Britney's family obtained against him Feb. 1, is behind the filing this week of a strongly worded petition seeking to move the troubled singer's custody and conservatorship cases from L.A. court to federal court.

"Sam is at war with Jamie. This is his first strike," a Spears insider said Friday, explaining that Lutfi feels Britney's rights were violated because court-appointed attorneys did not investigate the claims her family was making about her condition.

Lutfi's new publicist, Michael Sands, who insists that the case has been transferred, filed the petition this week on behalf of New York attorney Jon Eardley, who is listed in the paperwork as Britney's counsel.

"Ms. Spears has been denied the right to associate freely with friends. She has been denied the right to make or receive telephone calls. She has been denied the right to operate a motor vehicle…She has been denied the right to receive and send mail," the petition states.

"Additionally she has been denied the right to her finances. She is not allowed to access her money or credit cards."

"Britney has expressed that she doesn't want to be under the lock and control of her family," Sands said Friday. "She wants nothing to do with her father."

And the case now "resides" in federal court, due to a technicality, he added.

"Because the court's order appointing her father conservator until Mar. 10 wasn't signed until after the notice of removal was filed with the Los Angeles Superior Court...the order extending the conservatorship...is void and invalid," Sands rationalized.

But although Sands suggests that it's time for Jamie to back off, the Superior Court spokesperson maintained that they have received no request to turn over any materials related to the Spears' case to U.S. District Court.

Meanwhile, E!'s source says Britney spoke to Eardley before the petition was filed and is planning a new attack on her dad's conservator status.

Eardley is planning to present evidence showing Jamie is not qualified to oversee her affairs, even with the help of a coconservator, and will point to examples in his personal and professional history to prove he isn't capable of making decisions for his daughter, the source said.

"She has basically conveyed that she doesn't want to be in her family's control," Sands said.

Legal experts say, however, that because Britney was previously found unfit to hire her own counsel, it's unlikely that Eardley will be allowed to represent her, thereby making the petition to transfer the case invalid.



Eardley could not be reached directly for comment but, via Sands, he said, "I will try this case in court, not in the media."

On Thursday, L.A. Superior Court Commissioner Reva Goetz extended Jamie Spears' conservator status until at least Mar. 10, when the next hearing is scheduled, and named Britney's brother, Bryan Spears, and his attorney cotrustees of her SBJ Trust, which is used to pay for daily expenses and medical bills.

Britney's increased efforts to push her dad out of the picture come just as she seemed to be settling into a warmer relationship with mom Lynne, whom she hadn't seen for months before her blow-up with Lutfi last month that resulted in a mass migration of paparazzi, cops and, eventually, Britney's parents to her Beverly Hills home.

But the quality time will be on hold for awhile as Lynne heads back to their hometown of Kentwood, Louisiana, where 16-year-old daughter Jamie Lynn could probably use some guidance, as well.

"Lynne feels like Britney is in a much better place and on the right track," a family insider says. "She had to get home and take care of Jamie Lynn and other personal matters. She will be back soon."

(Originally published Feb. 15, 2008 at 4:15 p.m. PT)

The New & Improved Britney Spears



Look at her!!!

Doesn't she appear calmer????

We are loving the new Brit Brit, and we're especially loving her new security detail and assistant.

Spears has been relatively calm lately, and that's a good thing. Her new meds must be kickin' in!

Britney and posse did a little shopping in LA on Friday at the Fred Seagal store. Thankfully the late nights and aimless driving around town seem to be done.

The bad influences are gone from her life!

And, speaking of bad influences, the Los Angeles Police Department has confirmed that they are looking into allegations that Brit's former "manager" Osama Lutfi drugged her.

Homie better stay in hiding. Shit's about to go down for him!

[Image via WENN.]

She Loves Short Skirts



We're not exactly a prude, but we'd expect a Disney star to dress and look a bit more modest than Miley Cyrus has been lately.

She just doesn't give a ####, and we kinda like that!

The Hannah Montana star is a bad girl, and you can only keep them tame for so long. The inner bad girl will unleash herself, eventually. Just look at Britney. And Lindsay. BOTH former Disney stars too!

Cyrus and a gal pal had a girly Valentine's lunch at the very public The Ivy in Beverly Hills yesterday.

Miley accessorized her short dress/skirt with hooker boots.

Aren't those from the Julia Roberts Pretty Woman collection????

[Image by Juan Silva via BuzzFoto.]

When Celebrities Blog



Bai Ling is speaking out about her shoplifting arrest!

The "actress" just posted the following entry on her official blog:

"Thursday, February 14, 2008
No matter what happens, today is a Valentines day, I still want to wish all the loved ones are together sharing love and smile and a tender kiss under the beautiful sky

Here I am in Albuquerque with my heart feeling sad, and my emotions are running through me like a wild river, tears come from the lake of my heart hurt my eyes. Life happens to you either you liked it or not, sometimes I feel you have to be so brave to stand in front of the World, and just hope that people will have a tender heart toward you. Right now I just walked from the set to My trailer, cold, but the evening brightness on the sky is just so beautiful in Albuquerque, so beautiful, it takes my breath away like a bralliant lover, nature is my gift, no matter what happens it always there to confort me give me wisdom and love, how lucky I am to have it and recognise its beauty and power. So beautiful here in Albuquerque, the desert the wild endless land, the stars and the moon so up high there quietly singing a Valentines song. Many many friends called me today but I can not talk because I am shooting, I want to thank all my friends and the people that I don't even know out there cared for me and send me love. Its a gift and I am lucky to have you. Thankful with all my heart to all of you and send my Valentines love smile to you, with my sweet sad heart.
Bailing"

Liam Gallagher marries partner Nicole Appleton
By Robyn Powell and agencies



Oasis frontman Liam Gallagher married his long-term partner Nicole Appleton on Valentine's Day.

LiamGallagher with Nicole Appleton and their son Gene and nephew Ace
Liam Gallagher with wife Nicole Appleton, son Gene, right and nephew Ace

The singer married at a low-key ceremony at London's Westminster Register Office. Liam's brother and bandmate Noel, did not attend the ceremony because he was in Los Angeles, according to reports.

The small wedding party then reportedly moved to the nearby five-star Landmark Hotel. Guests included Appleton's former pop star sister Natalie, and her husband Liam Howlett, of The Prodigy.

Appleton, 33, had often spoken in the past about wanting to marry her rock star boyfriend, who fronts the group, once notorious for their bad behaviour.

"Marriage is important to me and I love the idea of being married," she said earlier this year.

The couple have been together for nearly eight years and she is credited with taming the singer's notoriously hard drinking and abrasive attitude. The couple have a seven-year-old son, Gene.

The Oasis singer married actress Patsy Kensit in 1997 but split three years later. Gallagher had Lennon, eight, with Kensit, and nine-year-old daughter Molly with singer Lisa Moorish.

Although his brother Noel writes the majority of the band's songs, Liam has developed himself as a songwriter, and contributed songs for several albums.

Oasis was at the forefront of the Britpop movement in the 1990s and Gallagher is one of the most recognisable characters in modern British music.

Sparks to Fly on Alicia Keys' Tour





Alicia Keys wants to follow no one but Jordin Sparks.

The reigning American Idol champion has signed on to open for Keys on the platinum-selling chanteuse's upcoming As I Am tour, in support of the Grammy-winning album of the same name.

Their two-month North American road trip kicks off Apr. 19 in Hampton, Virginia, and will touch down in 25 major U.S. cities, Toronto and Montreal before winding up June 18 at New York's Madison Square Garden.

Although Sparks' self-titled first album fizzled on impact, selling a disappointing 119,000 copies its first week out to give her the weakest chart debut for an Idol winner (10th place), the 18-year-old songbird from Glendale, Arizona, continues to charm with her live appearances.

Sparks, the daughter of former pro football player Phillippi Sparks, performed the national anthem before a hometown crowd—and more than 97 million at-home viewers—at Glendale's University of Phoenix Stadium on Super Bowl Sunday, and she's scheduled to take the stage this weekend in New Orleans as part of NBA All-Star Weekend.

Her big-game credentials in place, Sparks will also head off on tour fresh from being named Outstanding New Artist Thursday at the 39th NAACP Image Awards.

Keys, a four-time winner at the Image Awards and a pregame performer at the Super Bowl, scored two Grammys on Sunday, Best R&B Vocal Performance and Song for "No One," to go along with the other nine she's scooped up over the years.

'24' Sidelined Until 2009



Jack Bauer has been thrust into captivity -- this time by FOX execs! -- until next January, the Associated Press reports. The network has decided to air "24"'s seventh season on consecutive weeks, and if it began doing so now, the season finale wouldn't hit small screens until this summer -- a time when TV networks are wary of airing their top-shelf shows, according to the AP.

Also, although eight new episodes were shot prior to the writers' strike, producers would have had to rush to complete the new season, the news agency reports.

In the meantime, '24' fans can catch series' star KIEFER SUTHERLAND in the upcoming horror flick 'Mirrors' -- premiering in 2008!

CBS Renews 11 of Its Series



CBS announced on Thursday the renewal of 11 of its drama and comedy series for 2008, building upon the previously announced returns of "Survivor" and "The Amazing Race."

The series are: "Cold Case," "Criminal Minds," "CSI: Crime Scene Investigation," "CSI: Miami," "CSI: NY," "Ghost Whisperer," "NCIS," "Numb3rs," "Two and a Half Men," "Without a Trace" and "The Big Bang Theory."

The move restores 10 hours of the network's primetime schedule and eight of the top 20 scripted series on television.

Is Rumer Willis the Next It Girl?

Elle Magazine has pegged Rumer Willis as part of a new breed of quirky Hollywood "It" girls. Recently Rumer has been busy hitting the red carpet and trying to make a name for herself apart from her A-list parents. She was scheduled to be Miss Golden Globe before the award show was canceled, and recently wrapped filming a movie with Katharine McPhee. With films awaiting release and an individual sense of style, is Rumer Willis the next "It" girl?

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The 'Still Smoking' Lilo

Linday Lohan, intent on proving her civic-mindedness, was spotted making an exit from her court-mandated driving program at the Alternative Action Programs facility earlier this week as part of her punishment for her DUI arrest last year. It looks as if Lindsay wasn't really in the mood to smile for the cameras as she tried to pull an Olsen twins-like exit from the center:



I don't get it ... she should be happy to let people see how seriously she is taking her commitment to paying her debt to society. Linds has been doing a bang up job of staying on the straight and narrow in recent weeks and she should be commended for sticking with the program. I salute you, L. Lo, for keeping your nose clean and out of trubs. [Source]

Er ... what I don't salute you for, dear Lindsay, is your inability to kick your nicotine habit:


Photo credit: Splash News

Blech ... someone should call up the makers of Ariva and tell them that their shizz don't work. Lindsay has been seen carrying around their new fangled chewin' tobacco all over town and yet she still cannot kick her habit. It's cool that she's staying away from the hard stuff but I'd absolutely love it if she would stop torturing her body with those cancer sticks. [Source]

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Wino on Tattoo

There is no doubt about it ... Amy Winehouse loves flaunting her individuality and seems like a pretty tough cookie to tame ... that is, except when the Grammy Awards comes to call. It turns out that she was forced to submit to censoring one of her tattoos by the Grammy folks who thought that her nudie tat would be too offensive for US TV. In this instance, Amy just rolled right over and let them do with her what they would:


Amy Winehouse is cleaning up her act in more ways than one. The singer used her trademark black eyeliner to cover up a topless tattoo on her arm when she performed via satellite at the Grammys, it has been revealed. Producers at the music ceremony, where Amy won five awards last week, were concerned by the graphic nature of one tattoo on her left arm which features a topless woman. So Amy, 24, filled in the offending area before she appeared on air. A source told the Daily Telegraph: "Amy drew a little black bikini top on the large topless female tattoo on her arm, so as not to offend any of America's puritanical viewers." After the show, the black pen mark was said to have been removed ... Last month, Amy's mother Janis Winehouse admitted she hated her daughter's tattoos - especially the etching in tribute to her husband Blake Fielder-Civil, who is currently on remand at Pentonville Prison awaiting trial on charges of attempting to pervert the course of justice. Janis said: "That dreadful one saying 'Blake's' on her breast - I hate that ... It was like when Amy got her 'Daddy's Girl' tattoo. She asked me, 'Do you want me to get mummy tattooed, too?' I said, 'No, don't worry'. That's not my thing."

I'm actually quite surprised that Amy would submit to this demand. While I wouldn't have been surprised to find out that she might let them censor her, I am very surprised that she agreed to do the censoring herself. I guess she really wanted to appear on the Grammy Awards show at all costs ... even if it meant squelching her integrity. [Source]

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Britney's Bill

In positive news, Britney Spears continues to stay out of trouble as it seems her days of reckless partying and pointless meandering around town seems to have come to a halt. On the legal front, Team Spears has been granted even more control over her person and assets as their conservatorship has been extended and strengthened. On a somewhat relevant issues, new legislation is being proposed that would bear Britney Spears's name and hopes to regulate how celebs are to be protected from the paparazzi when they go out into public places:


Britney Spears is to have a law in Los Angeles named after her - because it was her GBP12,000 police escort to hospital last month which prompted councilmen to propose the amendment. The troubled pop star was taken from her Coldwater Canyon home to UCLA Medical Center on 31 January in an ambulance with a motorcade from the Los Angeles Police Department. The job of the motorcade, which included more than 20 police officers, a helicopter and a team of intervention specialists, was to block off traffic ahead and behind the ambulance carrying Spears to hospital, and to keep the paparazzi at bay. And the move has inspired L.A. City Councilman Dennis P. Zine to propose a safety zone be set up to protect areas around celebrities, hospitals, traffic, businesses and homes. The bill also suggests all members of the paparazzi get licenses to take photographs in the protected zones - with those breaking the law having their license revoked and royalties from the picture confiscated. He says, "The straw that broke the camel's back (idea that prompted the law) is the GBP12,000 we spent to escort an L.A. City ambulance to the hospital. I'm not infringing upon the right to take a picture. I'm concerned about the impact they have on the general public." Councilmen will vote on whether to adopt the new 'Britney Law' on 1 March

This is interesting ... it seems to me that the LA City Council will have no problem passing this bill and making it law ... the question becomes whether or not it will be able to stand the scrutiny of the courts. I can understand why a law like this might be necessary, after all, we all have borne witness to the insane tactics that some paparazzi will go to just to take a picture. Anything that can keep people safe is a good idea ... I'm just not sure how the city plans to carry out this new law, should it get voted into being, without costing tax payers more money to fund it. [Source]

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A little bit of Avril

Here are a few more pictures of Avril Lavigne from her recent photoshoot for Maxim magazine ... including a couple of online-only photos that are available only from Maxim.com:



I'm kinda glad the pics aren't as racy and I thought they might be ... they look like the standard Avril pics to me. I think the tiara thing has been done to death (as has the #### belt buckle) but, if she thinks that she's the mothereffing princess then who are we to argue? [Source]

Lawyer Claims Britney Held Hostage!!!



The lawyer who derailed the Britney Spears conservatorship case tells TMZ Britney herself called him and asked him to take the reigns. The question: Will a judge be buyin' what he's sellin'?

Attorney John Eardley filed papers in federal court last Thursday, alleging the California courts have railroaded Britney by imposing a conservatorship. Eardley tells us Britney called him, but he would not disclose the circumstances surrounding the alleged call or what she said. We do know that Michael Sands, who used to be the spokesperson for K-daddy's lawyer, Mark Vincent Kaplan, is now the mouthpiece for Eardley. And Sands also reps Sam Lutfi, who is now restrained from all things Britney.

So, are Lutfi and Sands behind the whole magilla with Eardley? Smells like it.

Eardley tells TMZ Britney didn't sign a retainer agreement because she is being "held hostage" in her own home. Ironically, a half hour before he told us this, we looked out our office windows and saw Britney driving through West Hollywood on a shopping spree.

Just by filing the Federal papers, Eardley has paralyzed the California courts from issuing more orders in the conservatorship case unless and until the Federal judge tells Eardley to take a hike.

Justice Served in Waitress Star Slaying



Justice is finally being served to the man who killed Waitress mastermind Adrienne Shelly.

An Ecuadorian illegal immigrant construction worker pleaded guilty to manslaughter in New York court Thursday in connection with the 2006 death of the up-and-coming 40-year-old actress, director and writer.

Diego Pillco testified that he killed Shelly in her Greenwich Village apartment during a botched robbery attempt. Pillco, who was 19 years old at the time, was a member of a construction crew working on the building.

He testified that Shelly, who wrote, directed and costarred in the indie hit Waitress, caught him stealing money from her purse on Nov. 1, 2006. He said that the actress threatened to call police on him and that she was killed in the resulting altercation.

"I took the phone from her," he said in court through a translator. "Out of desperation I covered her mouth. I was scared and didn't realize what was happening. I saw a sheet, and I decided to choke her."



In an attempt to cover up the grisly incident, he hung the actress from a shower rod in her bathroom to make the death appear as a suicide. Although the death was erroneously first reported as a suicide, police never ruled out foul play, having found mismatched shoe prints around the bathtub. Just five days after the slaying, NYPD arrested Pillco.

Pillco, now 21, will be sentenced to 25 years in prison at a hearing Mar. 6.

Shelly was survived by her husband, Andy Ostroy, who first found his wife's body, and daughter Sophie, now 5.

In addition to the Keri Russell-starring Waitress, Shelly had made a name for herself in the industry by appearing steadily in film, TV and theater work, most notably 1989's The Unbelievable Truth and 1990's Trust. She made her directorial debut with 1997's Sudden Manhattan.

Young 'Spiderwick' star 'just so pure'

By SUSAN WLOSZCZYNA, USA Today
Posted Sunday, February 17, 2008


Actor Freddie Highmore appears in a scene from the motion picture, "The Spiderwick Chronicles," which opened Thursday. Paramount Pictures

NEW YORK -- Freddie Highmore made his big-screen debut at age 7 in the 1999 British comedy "Women Talking Dirty."

Thank goodness the title gave no indication of the path his budding career would take.

Instead, it was in 2004's "Finding Neverland" that the London-born lad with the wistful grin and misty blue eyes found his true calling: the premier child actor for fantasy films. Highmore handily captivated audiences as the model for J.M. Barrie's literary creation, Peter Pan. Director Marc Forster remains in awe of his audition, a scene in which his character lashes out and smashes a playhouse. "He evoked such profound and real emotion," Forster says. "Not anything was fake."

Highmore also won a supporter in his co-star Johnny Depp, who would recommend him to Tim Burton to play Willie Wonka's humble heir in 2005's "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory." "There's a purity in Freddie that is astonishing," raved Depp, who maintains contact via e-mail and texting after they shot "Charlie" together. "It's mesmerizing. It's like he's incapable of lying, of telling a lie. He's just so pure."

Three years later, and Fantasy Boy is sprouting. Unlike Peter Pan, who refused to grow up, the actor has acquired string-bean legs, bushy brows and a somewhat deeper voice. Even he has lost track of how tall he is now. "I don't know," he says with a shrug. "I don't measure myself every day."

Highmore, 16, might still appear slightly younger than his age, but he is clearly on the cusp of leaving juvenile roles behind, judging from "The Spiderwick Chronicles," which opened Thursday.

He also has grown in stature in the industry. He was top-billed in "Spiderwick" and in last year's flight-of-fancy "August Rush," about a musical prodigy's hunt for his parents.

His latest make-believe adventure delivers his greatest acting challenge yet as he pulls a Patty Duke as identical twins. Sullen Jared and sweet Simon fend off invasive goblins while coping with the pain of divorce after moving to a rickety New England manse with their mom (Mary-Louise Parker of TV's "Weeds") and bossy older sis (Sarah Bolger of "In America").

"It was a chance to do something different and new," says Highmore, who nails not just one American accent but two. "I thought it would be fun from the moment I was presented with the opportunity."

Did he get two salaries for his dual efforts? "No, it was 'buy one, get one free,' " he says with a laugh.

A few minutes in Highmore's company, and it becomes apparent the young actor is a creature rarer than "Spiderwick's" tantrum-prone house brownie, Thimbletack. He's a happy, well-adjusted and utterly normal adolescent, as his uniform of sneakers, jeans and baggy suede Diesel jacket confirms.

"He's a sweet British kid with no American angst or angry teenage energy," says "Spiderwick" director Mark Waters, who nixed the idea of hiring a real set of twins once he met Highmore. To bring hothead Jared to life, "I had to teach Freddie to be angry. I asked him, 'You never beat up your younger brother? That's how we show affection.' " Waters, who worked with a pre-rehab Lindsay Lohan on "Freaky Friday" and "Mean Girls," is yet another filmmaker stunned by Highmore's abilities. "He's as good as they come. He disappears into a role like a Daniel Day-Lewis. He purposely keeps himself a cipher."

Though Highmore realizes he is at that difficult age for child performers as they transition into mature roles, he assures, "I'm not going off the rails anytime soon. I've got a good family to support me, so I'm grounded in that way."

He has a practical approach to maintaining his privacy. "If you don't sort of walk around and wave your hands around and say, 'Hey, look at me,' no one really notices. Especially in London. It's always raining, so everyone is huddled under their umbrella, hiding away."

With wooden Christensen in the lead, 'Jumper' fails to take off

By Bruce Newman, MEDIANEWS STAFF
Article Launched: 02/15/2008 06:06:21 AM PST



IN "JUMPER," the time-space continuum is no match for Hayden Christensen, who plays David Rice, an ordinary boy in Michigan who one day discovers that he can teleport himself across a room or to the other side of the world in the blink of an eye. He, and others like him, "jump" through wormholes, pulling objects such as a Mercedes-Benz, a double-decker bus and even part of a building through the hole with them.

In fact, the only force on Earth so dense that it apparently can't be moved even by the movie's special effects is Christensen's wooden acting. After bringing the second "Star Wars" trilogy to its knees as the inert Anakin Skywalker, his performance here threatens the very fabric of time and space.

With all of its sudden shape-shifting, it's not surprising that the story creates a constant sense of dislocation that's disruptive to the narrative. But as he demonstrated in his last picture, "Mr. & Mrs. Smith," director Doug Liman is adept at a kind of hyper-realism in which heroes may have fantastic skills, but aren't necessarily all that heroic. Mr. and Mrs. Smith, for instance, were top-notch assassins, and in "Jumper," David

Rice is a bank robber.

The movie is at some pains to show off the limitless possibility of David's life, and so we follow him through an evening out as he jumps from New York to a London nightclub, followed by big-wave surfing in Fiji, and then on to lunch atop the head of the Great Sphinx. From a similarly masterful
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promontory, he reminds us in the long narration that opens the film that once he was "a normal person, a chump just like you." Awww, go on.

David's life resembles a video game, and so does the movie. His super power is the equivalent of hitting the ESC key on a computer, and that's what he does over and over again. As a character, David seems less interested in propelling himself forward than fleeing the scene, and while this impulse to scram worked for "The Fugitive," it's less attractive on him.

His nemesis is a reverse on the usual albino bad guy, a black cat with white fur named Roland, played by Samuel L. Jackson. "I hate jumpers," Roland says, before teleporting one of them straight to hell with a sword. He's the leader of a group known as Paladins, who "have been killing jumpers . . . since medieval times."

Roland represents some malign form of religious fundamentalism, declaring that "only God" should have the power to do what jumpers can do.

But this murderous incantation doesn't adequately explain the enmity between paladins and jumpers, and we're expected to simply accept as a given that anybody who's constantly running away must have something to run away from.

One of the least satisfying aspects of "Jumper" is David's insistence on keeping his powers a secret from Millie (Rachel Bilson), the girl he's adored since they were kids.

Bilson, whose eyes are brown with pupils the size of half-dollars, attempts to bring some heat to her exchanges with Christensen, but you can't light a fire when the wood is all wet.

Dreams come true for 'Step Up 2'



By Cristy Lytal, Special to The Times

When 28-year-old director Jon Chu was in pre-production on "Step Up 2 the Streets," which opened in theaters Thursday, he and his team used to walk across the Disney's Burbank lot at 3 a.m. to visit the statue of Walt Disney. The studio's patriarch has his arm extended in front of him, and Chu and his colleagues would put their tired heads underneath his sculpted hand.

"It's kind of crazy, but it's just a superstitious thing we did," Chu recalled. "He would bless us every night."

Quirky rituals aside, it does seem like someone has been watching over Chu's charmed career. The youngest of five children of immigrant parents, Chu was raised tap dancing, drawing and playing piano, drums, saxophone, violin and guitar. In high school, he filmed weddings and bar mitzvahs and convinced his teachers to let him turn in video reports instead of papers.

As an undergraduate at USC, he made three well-received musical shorts, "Silent Beats," "Gwai Lo" and "When the Kids Are Away," which led to him signing with the William Morris Agency. After just a few short months, he'd been hired to direct an $80-million remake of the classic 1963 musical "Bye Bye Birdie."

It was a remarkable turn of events for someone barely out of school, but Chu said that he learned from a very young age to relentlessly pursue his goals from his father, who founded Chef Chu's, a staple of Chinese cuisine in Palo Alto. "That's why [my parents] always said to us kids, that America's the greatest place because if you work hard, you can do anything you want," Chu said.

Chu's shorts also demonstrated his facility with large-scale projects. "My short musical was a big production," says Chu. "We did it for $20,000. It's period. We have a 50-piece orchestra, 20-piece vocal choir, 150 actors and dancers in it. And I think people could say, 'At least he can handle doing something a little flashy that has heart to it.' "

But the remake never materialized. Chu spent two years in pre-production on "Birdie" before Sony pulled the plug after a string of box office underperformers, including "Bewitched" and "Memoirs of a Geisha."

Around the same time, though, Steven Spielberg saw "When the Kids Are Away" and asked to meet Chu. "We had, like, a three-hour meeting talking about musicals, about the movies. He invited me back the next week, and then he invited me to his set. It was 'The Terminal' at the time. I think that just having Steven say 'I like you' helped everything around me."

Spielberg also bought Chu's pitch for an angsty teen musical set in San Francisco, but that project fell by the wayside with the DreamWorks sale to Paramount in 2005. "The Prom," a romantic comedy that Chu was attached to direct for Lionsgate, also failed to move into production when star Shia LaBeouf left to do "Disturbia" and "Transformers" -- both of which, incidentally, were produced by DreamWorks.

That's when Chu received the offer to direct "Step Up 2." "It was a really bad script, and it was direct-to-DVD too," says Chu. "I was like, 'I can't do this.' Then [producer] Adam Shankman called me, and he said, 'Jon, you can do anything you want.' It had been five years, and I looked at myself in the mirror, and I said, 'Jon, if you are a true storyteller, if they're saying you can do whatever you want, then you have to do this.' "

Chu tripled the dance numbers, wrote a 15-page treatment and put together a brief sample dance video. "When he came in and did his pitch, he did this extraordinary visual presentation," recalls Shankman. "Jon's vision was so big and clear and complete, and we realized that we could never do the movie as Jon wanted to make it for the $5 million that it would take to go straight to video. And then my sister [and producing partner Jennifer Gibgot] and I started saying, 'Well, ['Step Up'] was such a big success for Disney, why don't we just bring it in and give them the opportunity to get involved again?"

The young filmmaker met with the executives at the studio, and within 20 minutes, they offered him the Valentine's Day slot for his revamped story of a street dancer (Briana Evigan) who joins forces with the Maryland School of the Arts' top student (Robert Hoffman) to form her own crew.

"The most remarkable thing for me about Jon is just all the ideas he's always coming up with for how to tell a story better," says Hoffman.

Adds Evigan: "Jon just has a different way with people than a lot of others do. He's really, really good at communicating what he wants. He was there to hang out and talk about whatever else was going on in our lives and try to tie some of that into the movie so it would come off better on screen."

Chu wanted the dance in "Step Up 2" to have an almost superhuman quality to it. Taking his inspiration from such things as "Singin' in the Rain," "The Matrix" and YouTube and MySpace videos, he added a battle involving trampolines, a subway scene inspired by online dance pranks and a finale using two blocks of rain machines. Then he hired three of the world's best choreographers -- Nadine "Hi Hat" Ruffin, Jamal Sims and Dave Scott.

"I'm just excited that after all these years, I finally got to make a movie," says Chu. "I got to prove to my parents that it's for real, that it's not just some fantasy thing that I'm making up in my mind. They get to see the posters in their hometown. They get to watch it in the theater. There's definitely a trust that they believed in me, and I wanted to show that they were believing in the right thing."

Handicapping the Oscars

Ruthe Stein
Sunday, February 17, 2008

This Oscar race is way too easy to call - raising suspicion of an upset like the startling win of "Crash" over "Brokeback Mountain" or Juliette Binoche's over Lauren Bacall.

More than in most years, members of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences chose well, honoring the strongest movies with little heed to how they performed at the box office.

Leading the pack with eight nominations are the equally dark, gory and hypnotic "No Country for Old Men" and "There Will be Blood." What's unusual is that both movies rated only one nomination for acting. Javier Bardem as the face and hairdo of evil in "No Country" is primed to take best supporting actor, and Daniel Day-Lewis as a conniving oilman in "Blood" is a heavy favorite to win best actor. An upset in either category could foreshadow other losses for these movies.

"Michael Clayton" and "Atonement" are right behind with seven nominations each. Full-page ads are trumpeting this recognition now, but there won't be much to brag about after the Academy Awards on Feb. 24. "Atonement's" best chances are in technical categories, such as costume and art direction. "Clayton's" three nominations in the acting categories sound impressive, except none is favored to win.

First-time nominees such as Ellen Page, Viggo Mortensen and Casey Affleck will walk the red carpet alongside Oscar veterans Tommy Lee Jones and Cate Blanchett, an acceptance speech crushed into a pocket or purse just in case.

BEST PICTURE



"Atonement," "Juno," "Michael Clayton," "No Country for Old Men," "There Will Be Blood."

"Atonement" director Joe Wright failed to receive a directing nomination, an indication of the questionable regard academy members have for his movie. "There Will Be Blood" is more admired than loved by voters, and "Michael Clayton" got as far as it did on the strength of star George Clooney's popularity.

Will win: "No Country for Old Men" looks to be a shoo-in. Told in the style of a classic Western, this compelling saga of a drug deal gone awry in the desolate Texas countryside shines in an unusually rich year for cinema.

Unless there's an upset: "Juno" is as beloved as "Little Miss Sunshine" was. After picking "The Departed" last year, voters might be in a mood to bestow top honors to a feel-good movie devoid of violence. Although box-office revenues weren't a major consideration, it's worth noting that "Country" and "Juno" are the top-grossing films in their category and that the latter, with its more than $100 million take, earned almost twice as much as "Country."

BEST ACTOR

George Clooney, "Michael Clayton"; Daniel Day-Lewis, "There Will Be Blood"; Johnny Depp, "Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street"; Tommy Lee Jones, "In the Valley of Elah"; Viggo Mortensen, "Eastern Promises."

Some performances cry "Oscar" from the opening scenes. Heath Ledger's in "Brokeback Mountain" is one. Time will prove that the academy made the wrong call in giving the award to Philip Seymour Hoffman for "Capote" instead. Meanwhile, Day-Lewis can be grateful that Hoffman is competing for best supporting actor for his role in "Charlie Wilson's War."

Few people saw Jones' heartbreaking performance as a father trying to stay tough as he investigates his son's murder or Mortensen's naked portrayal (both literally and figuratively) as a Russian mafioso. Hopefully, their nominations will boost DVD sales.

Will win: Daniel Day-Lewis' manipulative and greedy oil tycoon is a tour de force performance. He's in every scene and never does anything out of character. It will become a classic performance.

Unless there's an upset: Hollywood loves Clooney, who does his best acting as a disreputable lawyer in "Clayton." Although his best is still no match for Day-Lewis, Clooney could squeeze in.

BEST ACTRESS

Cate Blanchett, "Elizabeth: The Golden Age"; Julie Christie, "Away From Her"; Marion Cotillard, "La Vie en Rose"; Laura Linney, "The Savages"; Ellen Page, "Juno."



The scarcity of challenging roles for actresses this year is underscored by this thin list. Blanchett is always easy to watch, but her virgin queen seems like a wax figure. Both Elizabeths need to be retired from the screen for a spell. Page is adorable, but at age 20 lacks the gravitas of a best actress. Linney's performance isn't the emotional grabber of her previous work.

Will win: Julie Christie is known for her long disappearing acts from the movie business. Reappearing as a wife battling Alzheimer's disease is a Christie we haven't seen before. She's visibly older, fragile but with glimpses of toughness. Old Hollywood will want to reward her in the hope that she'll stick around. She's already picked up a Golden Globe and a Screen Actors Guild award.

Unless there's an upset: "La Vie en Rose" got mixed reviews, but there were only raves for Cotillard's appearance as Edith Piaf. She seemed to channel the French chanteuse. It's a revelation to see Cotillard at award shows and realize how much she changed her appearance. She's proved to be a tireless campaigner, traveling to the country's smaller movie markets.

SUPPORTING ACTOR

Casey Affleck, "The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford"; Javier Bardem, "No Country for Old Men"; Philip Seymour Hoffman, "Charlie Wilson's War"; Hal Holbrook, "Into the Wild"; Tom Wilkinson, "Michael Clayton."

At 83, Holbrook gets the sentimental vote for longevity. Wilkinson was terrific as a crazed lawyer, but his star has fallen in the months since "Clayton" came out. The groundswell of support for Affleck has quieted down because the movie is so impenetrable.

Will win: Javier Bardem took many risks to pull off the role of a psychotic murderer. That bowl haircut with bangs was one: It could have been laughable instead of terrifying. His chilling performance contributed to the spooky mood of "No Country."

Unless there's an upset: In a less competitive year, Hoffman would get a best actor nomination for "Before the Devil Knows Your Dead" or "The Savages." So much great work in one year could lead voters to reward his glass-smashing Greek CIA agent.

SUPPORTING ACTRESS

Cate Blanchett, "I'm Not There"; Ruby Dee, "American Gangster"; Saoirse Ronan, "Atonement"; Amy Ryan, "Gone Baby Gone"; Tilda Swinton, "Michael Clayton."

This is the closest category to call. Dee has some edge because she's 83 and has never been nominated before. She was feisty as the mother of Denzel Washington's Harlem drug lord, but was hardly in the picture. As a noisy younger sister, Ronan, who is only 13, dominated her scenes, but her age will probably work against her. Swinton wears designer clothes as if to the manner born, but isn't quite convincing as a corporate lawyer.

Will win: Cate Blanchett's nomination as best actress may split the academy's vote. More likely, though, they will favor her spot-on impersonation of Bob Dylan. She already won for impersonating Katharine Hepburn. Who's next? Orson Welles?

Unless there's an upset: Anyone who saw "Gone Baby Gone" won't have to ask "Amy who?" Ryan brings pathos and a frightening energy to her drugged-out Boston mother from the wrong side of the tracks whose daughter goes missing.

DIRECTOR

Julian Schnabel, "The Diving Bell and the Butterfly"; Jason Reitman, "Juno"; Tony Gilroy, "Michael Clayton"; Joel Coen and Ethan Coen, "No Country for Old Men"; Paul Thomas Anderson, "There Will Be Blood."

Gilroy, Reitman and Anderson are gifted filmmakers with Oscars in their future. But not this time.

Will win: Joel and Ethan Coen will take home matching statuettes - the first time since Robert Wise and Jerome Robbins won tandem directing Oscars for "West Side Story" in 1962. It's the brothers' best work since "Fargo." They repeated their formula for finding humor in disturbing moments.

Unless there's an upset: Schnabel's surprise win at the Golden Globes has some people thinking he might repeat Roman Polanski's come-from-nowhere coup at the 2003 Academy Awards. But "Butterfly" has only two other nominations - for cinematography and screenplay - and it's unlikely that a directing Oscar would go to a film whose actors aren't recognized.

FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM

"Beaufort," Israel; "The Counterfeiters," Austria; "Katyn," Poland; "Mongol," Kazakhstan; "12," Russia.

Last year's foreign entries all were Oscar-worthy. This time, however, some terrific potential nominees were eliminated because of the academy's strict rules. "Lust, Caution" was disqualified for having too much American participation and not enough Taiwanese. "The Band's Visit" got zinged because more than half the Israeli film is in English. The Romanian film "4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days" also didn't make the cut. This leaves a slate of movies that have yet to open in the Bay Area.

Will win: "Katyn" because it's directed by the great Polish filmmaker Andrezej Wajda and because it's about a subject very close to him: the 1940 Katyn massacre in which his father, a Polish cavalry officer, was murdered by the Russians. Wajda received an honorary Oscar in 2000.

ADAPTED SCREENPLAY

Christopher Hampton, "Atonement"; Sarah Polley, "Away From Her"; Ronald Harwood, "The Diving Bell and the Butterfly"; Joel Coen and Ethan Coen, "No Country for Old Men"; Paul Thomas Anderson, "There Will Be Blood."

You could play spin the Oscar, and whichever entry it pointed to would be worthy.

Will win: Joel and Ethan Coen usually bring original material to the screen. But they had a real feel for Cormac McCarthy's forsaken vision. Just listen to the brilliant way they adapted Tommy Lee Jones' descriptions of dreams about his father, which end a film you don't want to see end.

ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY

Diablo Cody, "Juno"; Nancy Oliver, "Lars and the Real Girl"; Tony Gilroy, "Michael Clayton"; Brad Bird, Jan Pinkava and Jim Capobianco, "Ratatouille"; Tamara Jenkins, "The Savages."

Since Matt Damon and Ben Affleck won for "Good Will Hunting," this category has drawn more attention than humble scribes are used to. It's a pat on the back for a film that academy members want to honor in some way, like "Little Miss Sunshine."

Will win: Diablo Cody. This hot screenwriter, a onetime stripper, took what might have been a trite story and made it unforgettable.

DOCUMENTARY FEATURE

"No End in Sight," "Operation Homecoming: Writing the Wartime Experience," "Sicko," "Taxi to the Dark Side," "War/Dance."

Don't look for Michael Moore in the winner's circle - but not because academy members fear more of the anti-war rhetoric he spewed in 2003. He's going to lose because he made a film about America's health care mess while almost all the competition is about the war in Iraq, a hotter subject at the moment.

Will win: "No End in Sight," directed by Charles Ferguson, examines the reasons the war in Iraq has gone so badly. To start with, the United States sent insufficient troops. Talking heads describe Iraq's descent into guerrilla warfare and anarchy.

ANIMATED FEATURE

"Persepolis," "Ratatouille," "Surf's Up."

"Persepolis," a spirited adaptation of a graphic novel about a Muslim girl coming of age, would have had a far better shot in the foreign language category than against the unbeatable "Ratatouille."

Will win: The rats have it.

Horrormeister Sinks His Teeth Into Cruelty Of Film Culture

By John Anderson
Special to The Washington Post
Saturday, February 16, 2008; Page C01

LOS ANGELES -- George Romero laughs easily, makes light of his own stature as a "master of horror" and plays down the importance of his most famous movie, "Night of the Living Dead," the seminal thriller-shocker-zombie-fest that turns 40 this year. ("Ain't that weird?")

Judging from his latest, "George A. Romero's Diary of the Dead," the director doesn't care that his new movie disses -- and not in a gentle way -- the same enthusiastic fan base that has helped position his name before the title of his films.

"I think that a lot of his fans are these people who are really involved in these Internet communities and horror Web sites," says "Diary" star Michelle Morgan. "And they keep track of all the directors and films and happenings, so it's interesting that he's trying to provoke his own viewers. He's really speaking to the people who make up this online generation."

From "Frankenstein" on, horror fiction has been a mirror of human nature, misbehavior and hubris (think: "Invasion of the Body Snatchers" as a reflection of 1950s fear of communism), and with "Diary," Romero is tackling a couple of very contemporary and thorny American issues: the voyeurism of society and the cruelty of the movie culture.

"I wish somebody could explain it to me," Romero says during an interview in Beverly Hills, where birds sing, warm breezes blow and torture-porn -- as embodied in such box-office monsters as "Hostel" and "Saw" -- becomes the topic of conversation.



"People say, '[Current filmmakers] are angry.' I say, 'We were angry, too, but this is cruel for the sake of being cruel.' Just because I'm [ticked], I'm gonna be cruel? And no one has given me a succinct explanation."

Okay, "Night of the Living Dead" might have included a shot of a zombie child gnawing on its mother's arm, but compared to the gratuitous gore of, say, the upcoming French outrage "Frontierre(s)" -- think hammers, tongs and a tortured woman crawling through a pigsty -- Romero's brand of horror was mild, and also had a point: The reason he's spent as much as 10 years between films, he says, is because he's not satisfied with horror for horror's sake.

Consider "Dawn of the Dead," for instance, the 1978 sequel to "Night" (and remade by Zach Snyder in 2004). It's not just a gore-splattered zombie epic. It's a satire about consumerism. "I knew the people who built one of these enormous shopping meccas out in western Pennsylvania," Romero recalls. "And I went out to look at the place. Trucks were just pouring in, everything you could ever possibly want, and I said, 'That's it.' "

Romero says that for his latest film, which opened yesterday, "I just had this idea that I wanted to do something about emerging media, this beast that we're all captive to."

The result, "Diary of the Dead," begins with a standard-issue, slasher-horror setup: a varied group of young people, cut off from the safety of home and family, facing an unspeakable horror, in this case, the rising of the dead from their graves. The young people here make up a film crew, and the entire story is framed as a film within a film -- "The Death of Death," shot by Jason (Joshua Close), who refuses to turn off his camera at any time during the group's hellish trip through their cannibal-zombie nightmare.

This creates friction among the group, and disturbance amid Romero's audience: What is the responsibility of the artist and/or journalist? Is posterity worth the effort? For that matter, are humans worth the effort, given what they're capable of? This brings us back to the torture-porn ethos, with Romero sticking a big wet thumb in the eye of the indiscriminate modern-day horror fan. The final scene in particular, sure to be talked about, is a red flag in the face of cruelty connoisseurs everywhere.

"People have asked me, 'Are you really that pessimistic?' I said no, but to me it's a question you pose every day; you see things happen and you ask, 'What have we become?' But it's only supposed to be a question," the filmmaker explains.



Romero has more questions about the state of the art of cinema. "There's something missing now," he says. "There's no art. And it's not just horror."

Romero might decry the lack of what he calls "old values" in today's films, but he's not just waxing nostalgic. "That stuff works," he asserts. "I didn't see 'Halloween,' but I did see 'Disturbia,' which was very, very successful, and it relies on old values. I think people have thrown out the baby with the bath water."

Coming from Romero, juxtapositions like "baby" and "bath water" might send a cold chill up the spine. But he seems an amiable character, bearded, bespectacled and gangly in a way that might, in fact, suggest a zombie coming over a hilltop. If one needs evidence of Romero's geniality, consider that he began his career in Pittsburgh, working for Fred Rogers -- yes, that Mister Rogers. ("Everybody that worked in the business in Pittsburgh at that time got their start through Fred," Romero says.)

Not long after, Romero and his cohort independently produced "Night of the Living Dead," which came and went quickly -- at least that's what its creators thought. "We were shooting a third film, in my house," Romero recalls, "when there was a knock at the door, and Rex Reed is standing there."

The critic and writer had come from New York, unannounced, to track Romero down. "He said, 'This film's getting a lot of attention.' I said, 'What film?' He said, 'Night of the Living Dead,' and he showed me this article in Cahiers du Cinema [the French film journal]. And then Rex jumped on the bandwagon and was responsible for getting it into the Museum of Modern Art, and suddenly this movie is back from the dead."

"We remained friendly for some time because he always credited me with turning 'Night of the Living Dead' into a cult film," says Reed. "But, if he saw my review of the new one, he is probably pronouncing me one of the living dead myself."

In the melange of archival footage that comes near the end of "Diary," there are references to Hurricane Katrina, A-bombs, riots in the streets and the voices of such luminaries as Stephen King and Quentin Tarantino. ("They all agreed" to do it, Romero says. "It was very gratifying.") The impact of it all is social commentary on a very overt level -- although Romero again plays down his intent:

"I'm not sure there's that much to get. It's instinctual. We were flying by the seat of our pants, and luckily you can interpret it any way you want to interpret it. I get away with murder sometimes."

In the Case of the Model vs. the Boxer, a Court Showdown That Wasn’t



By ALAN FEUER
Published: February 16, 2008

This one you couldn’t miss. The press release was just too good.

“Media Alert***Media Alert*** Media Alert,” it read. “Oscar De La Hoya Reunites With Ex-Mistress in Federal Court Over Sexy Lingerie Photos.”

Which is to say, not your average Friday in Manhattan at the Southern District of New York.

Some hearings are about the law; some are about the facts. But Friday’s hearing, at which Mr. De La Hoya, the boxer, was due in court for his reunion, was simply about the show.

The ex-mistress, Milana Dravnel, appeared outside the courthouse, surrounded by the various mutts and rats who carry pads and cameras in New York. Her patent leather handbag matched her boots.

“I’ve been hurt by Oscar,” she told the gathered press. “This is my only option. I just want to move on with a positive outcome.”

Her lawyer, Salvatore Strazzullo, spelled his name for the television cameras. His watchband matched his topcoat.

“How you doin’, guys?” he inquired of the reporters. “We just want the truth to come out. We just want to restore the reputation, the integrity, of my client.”

His client — a model and a former striptease dancer once employed by the nightclub Scores — filed a $25 million lawsuit against Mr. De La Hoya in November. The suit accuses him of fraud, defamation and the infliction of emotional distress, charging that he forced Ms. Dravnel to recant a story that she told last year on the television program “Entertainment Tonight.”

That story concerned some photographs said to have been taken of Mr. De La Hoya one night last May at the Ritz-Carlton hotel in Philadelphia. They showed Mr. De La Hoya, a 35-year-old welterweight, dressed in fishnets and a tutu. The pictures, as they sometimes do, found their way onto the Internet. Mr. De La Hoya argued that they were altered. After going on TV to say that they were real, Ms. Dravnel then told The Daily News that they were not.

Now she claims that one of Mr. De La Hoya’s lawyers coerced her into signing an agreement to change her mind — an accusation that his current lawyers say is false. Since recanting, her lawsuit says, she has suffered “severe levels of stress, anxiety and depression.”

Ms. Dravnel, 22, arrived outside the courthouse shortly after 3. She was dressed in black except for her pearl silk blouse. Her voice was soft, with a gentle Russian purr. She told the microphones that she had not been a stripper for at least a year and a half and in fact was trying “something else.” Mr. Strazzullo played the role of her protector. “He called her a liar, a fake, ‘just a stripper,’ ” he said of Mr. De La Hoya. “Well, a stripper, maybe, but at a place he frequented many times.”

Inside the courthouse, the action was somewhat less active. Mr. De La Hoya had decided not to appear. When Ms. Dravnel was told of this, she turned around and left. The whole point, Mr. Strazzullo said, had been to see the man in court.

That left a hearing to be held with neither a defendant nor a plaintiff. The judge came in, set a schedule for motions, then stood and left.

Judd Burstein, Mr. De La Hoya’s lawyer, wandered over to a passel of reporters.

“So was it really worth the trip?” he asked. “I think the real story is that all of you”— and here he used a vulgar Yiddish word — “actually showed up.”

Hollywood's Top Ten Sexiest Singles


10. Chase Crawford: The 22-year-old Texan started out as a model before moving to Los Angeles to pursue an acting career. The teen heartthrob solidified his hunk status as soon as his character, Nate Archibald, hit the screen on the CW's latest water cooler hit, "Gossip Girl." Although he's been linked with Carrie Underwood, she's repeatedly denied their relationship is serious.


9. Blake Lively: Chase's "Gossip Girl" co-star saw her stock rise after her role in "The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants" won rave reviews. Ever since, the 20-year-old has been in high demand. She was recently featured on the cover of Teen Vogue, and a "Sisterhood" sequel is set for this summer.


8. Adrian Grenier: Thankfully the 31-year-old (best known for his role as Vincent Chase on HBO's "Entourage") never cemented anything with a certain socialite he's been spotted with in the past year. Otherwise, we'd consider him skanky, not sexy.

7. Minka Kelly: Now that the "Friday Night Lights'" fox is back on the market (thanks to her ex, John Mayer), she can consider calling up her other ex, the incredible Chris Evans ("Fantastic Four's" Johnny Storm) ... not that a hottie like this should ever have to call a man for a date.


6. John Mayer: Minka's ex has been linked to many gorgeous girls in Hollywood, but this Grammy-winning bachelor is still on the prowl for Mrs. Right (now). Fortunately for brunettes around the world, he seems to be done with dumb blondes like Jessica Simpson.


5. Kate Hudson: The Golden Globe-winning goddess ("Almost Famous") has Goldie to thank for her good looks and bubbly personality, but she also happens to be a box office draw and a hot mama, having birthed a son (Ryder Russell Robinson) in 2004.

4. Wentworth Miller: Perhaps the "Prison Break" playboy's multi-racial background adds to his sex appeal. Perhaps the attraction has something to do with his piercing eyes, those luscious lips, the bulging biceps...


3. Carmen Electra: You'd think the former "Baywatch" babe was born in the 1800's because she's been famous for so long, but the eternally beautiful 35-year-old model/dancer/singer/actress/pinup/former Prince muse continues to star in men's fantasies every night of the week.


2. Ryan Phillippe: The delicious dad of two set hearts a flutter with early, shirtless roles in "White Squall," "54," and "Cruel Intentions." 10 years later, he's considered one of the best young actors Hollywood has to offer. He also happens to be the hottest!

1. Rihanna: The Barbadian bombshell and former beauty pageant contestant is currently uncontested on the sexy and single celeb circuit. With a deadly combo of killer looks and killer hooks, the Grammy-winning songbird is undoubtedly perched atop our list.

Heather Mills Reportedly Lands 108 Million In Settlement With Paul McCartney

Heather Mills and former Beatle Paul McCartney have reportedly settled their very public and bitter divorce with a whopping $108 million settlement being awarded to Mills, according to Britain's the Daily Mail.

Mills, who represented herself during the divorce, will reportedly receive a lump sum of $40 million up front, with another $5 million a year until their four-year-old daughter Beatrice turns 18.



The settlement, which includes a strict confidentiality agreement, falls short of Mills initial request of up to $160 million, according to the Daily Mail.

The Mills and McCartney settlement also reportedly establishes a $2 million trust fund for their four-year-old daughter, which will gain interest until she turns 18.

"They have agreed on all points," a source told the Daily Mail. "Nothing much has changed this week. There was a deal at the beginning, but it was a complex one."

The former couple is reportedly expected in London's High Court on Monday in front of Justice Hugh Bennett in case there are any last-minute details to work out.

Mills and McCartney were married in 2002

Eminem 'wanted to be a Jumper star'



Eminem almost played the lead in new action film Jumper, according to director Doug Liman.

"We did have a meeting and conversations with Eminem," the writer/director told MTVNews.com.

"(The idea to meet with the rapper) was sort of coming from the producer and his manager."

The last big film appearance by Eminem - real name Marshall Mathers - was in the autobiographical 8 Mile back in 2002.

The script for Jumper apparently caught his eye last year, and talks focused on his potentially starring as the teleporting character David Rice - a role which eventually went to Star Wars actor Hayden Christensen.

"If I've proven anything to myself, it's that I can tailor a role to an actor ... develop the role ... and make it extremely specific to them," Doug said about the possibility of working with the rapper.

"So as long as the person has acting chops, I'm open to talking to almost anybody for almost any role.

"But at that point, I had already met Hayden and had fallen in love with Hayden," the director added.

"It was one of those things where the studio, with all things being equal, would rather put a bigger name in the movie (and wanted Eminem).

"At some point, I just put my foot down and said 'I love Hayden'."

Back To Work



Owen Wilson is getting back into the swing of things after his attempted suicide last year.

The actor is set to start filming a new movie.

Marley & Me begins shooting in Miami next month.

Marley & Me, based on a memoir, depicts the lives of a young columnist and his wife, also a reporter, who move to South Florida and adopt an incredible puppy named Marley.

The film co-stars Jennifer Aniston.

This smells like box office disaster!

The Baby Heirarchy



Christina Aguilera got paid $2 mill for the baby pics of her new son Max.

Nicole Richie? She's only making $1 million for photos of her Harlow, to be released soon.

Angeline & Brad's new baby? Priceless!

Headline of the Week Weak



911 call from Spice Girls' driver leads to arrest in carjacking

A 911 call from the driver of a Spice Girls' tour bus about a possible drunken driver led to the arrest of a suspected carjacker.

The Flint Journal reports the bus was heading south on Interstate 75 on Saturday night when its driver noticed a man weaving in and out of traffic. Police in suburban Detroit later arrested a 36-year-old Burton man.

He was turned over to police in Burton, about 50 miles northwest of Detroit, in connection with a carjacking at a gas station. Authorities say he also had been stopped earlier in the day on suspicion of shoplifting.

The man was being held in the Genesee County Jail pending arraignment.

The Spice Girls were in the Detroit area to perform Saturday at The Palace of Auburn Hills.

Such A Cutie!




She's such a proud momma!

Naomi Watts is all smiles as she returns home to Australia with her new son for one of the first trips back to her homeland since his birth.

Little Alexander Pete Scheriber is so cute, you just wanna pinch his cheeks!

Watts and son arrived at Sydney airport this past weekend for the 16th Annual Sony Tropfest Festival.

[Image by ICON via Fame Pictures.]

Amy's Pic Worth The Price Of Heroin



When news broke about Blake Fieder Civil's prison overdose, we instantly asked: "How the heck did Amy Winehouse's husband get heroin in jail????"

Well, it seems like the troubled inmate has been exchanging pictures of Wino for drugs.

How ironic!

In return for the pics - they hand over a “Joey” – slang for a hit of heroin worth a few pounds.

A source said: “Blake has to pay for his gear somehow – and he has no qualms about cashing in on his wife’s fame.

“He’ll take orders from other inmates then ask Amy to bring in signed photos of herself during visits. He usually gets her to write a little personalized note to make it look authentic. Once he’s back on the wing he’ll swap these for Joeys.

“The boys think they’ll get a few quid for them on eBay. It’s not clear whether she knows exactly what’s going on . . . but she must find it strange that all these so-called prison hardmen have suddenly become starstruck Amy Winehouse fans.”

Bad Blake is currently in the prison hospital recovering from his overdose.

Because he was caught doing drugs in jail, all of his visitation privileges have been cut off, so he won't be seeing Wino for a while!

[Image via WENN.]

Sad Little Rich Girl



As her parents continue to battle it out in court, little Beatrice McCartney went to the London Zoo on Sunday….all alone!

The rock offspring was accompanied by her best friends, Mrs. Nanny and Mr. Bodyguard.

Sir Paul and Heather Mills are due at London's High Court Monday to continue negotiations in their bitter divorce case.

It is being reported that tomorrow should be the last day of the trial and that Mucca has gotten herself a deal worth $130 million.

We'll all find out soon enough.

All the money in the world won't keep that little girl from wishing it was her parents that took her to the zoo, though, and not the hired help.

[Image by Focus Pictures via Pacific Coast News.]

Bonding Time



Britney Spears got all dressed up on Saturday night for a lovely meal with her dad, Jamie, at the new restaurant at Social Hollywood.

We love seeing Brit Brit spend time with her father. And it is nice seeing her well protected by her large security team.

Spears seems different, in a good way. We genuinely hope she's keeping up with therapy and treatment. It is essential! ESSENTIAL.

[Image via WENN.]

Zac Efron Celebrates Bat Mitzvah



Zac Efron celebrates the Bat Mitzvah of a producer pal’s daughter in London on Saturday night. (The producer is from his upcoming movie, Me and Orson Welles)

The 20-year-old tween heartthrob will be spending about a month filming the coming-of-age romantic comedy in the Isle of Man (the center of the British Isles). Principal photography starts on Sunday, Feb. 24th.

Zac will plays a teenage student who lucks his way into a minor role in the 1937 Mercury Theatre production of Julius Caesar, directed by 22-year-old genius Orson Welles.

Ryan Reynolds is Deadpool



Ryan Reynolds is set to make an appearance as Deadpool in the new Wolverine movie, according to AICN.

The 31-year-old cut Canuck will star as the fictional comic book character alongside Hugh Jackman, who plays Wolverine. Check out the description of Ryan’s character from Wiki:

“Deadpool is a high-tech mercenary known for his wisecracks, black humor, and satirical pop-culture references. Like the X-Men’s Wolverine, Deadpool is the product of the Canadian government’s paramilitary Weapon X program, although his place of birth is unknown. After Weapon X cured his terminal cancer by implementing a regenerative “healing factor” extracted from Wolverine, Deadpool is left disfigured and mentally unstable.”

Canadian. The wise cracks! The black humor!! The satirical pop-culture references!!! Talk about Perfect casting!!!!

Matt Dallas Dances the Night Away



Kyle XY star Matt Dallas shows his support for the 8th Annual Dance Marathon at UCLA to raise money for three beneficiaries — The Elizabeth Glasier Pediatric AIDS Foundation, Camp Kindle, and Camp Heartland.

The Elizabeth Glasier Pediatric AIDS Foundation (EGPAF) strives to educate the UCLA community about the HIV/AIDS pandemic while actively engaging students, faculty, staff, and community members through its events. Camp Kindle and Camp Heartland are free summer camp programs for youth and their families, who are infected with or affected by HIV and AIDS.

$319,370.70 has been raised so far but you can still donate at DonorDrive.com.

Lindsay Lohan is Marilyn Monroe

Lindsay Lohan bares all and does her best Marilyn Monroe, recreating Monroe’s last (nude) photo shoot for New York Magazine.

In 1962, photographer Bert Stern shot Marilyn Monroe in “The Last Sitting” photo shoot and 46 years later, he revisited his classic shots with Lindsay Lohan. Here are some snippets from Lindsay’s interview with NY Mag:

On comparing Marilyn Monroe and Heath’s Ledger’s tragic deaths: “They are both prime examples of what this industry can do to someone… I don’t know. I’m not them. But I sure as hell wouldn’t let it happen to me.”

On posing nude: “I was comfortable with it… I didn’t have to put much thought into it. I mean, Bert Stern? Doing a Marilyn shoot? When is that ever going to come up? It’s really an honor.”

On the Monroe photos Lohan revisits: “Here is a woman who is giving herself to the public. She’s saying, ‘Look, you’ve taken a lot from me, so why don’t I give it to you myself.’ She’s taking control back.”

Check out Lindsay’s take on Marilyn’s “Last Sitting” photo shoot at NYMag.com (NSFW).

Johnny Depp Among Stars to Replace Heath Ledger in Film



Jude Law, Johnny Depp and Colin Farrell will fill in for Heath Ledger in his final role in the unfinished fantasy flick The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus.

Law's rep confirmed their casting to BBC News, but said she was unclear as to how the role would be reconstructed.

Production on the Terry Gilliam-directed film was suspended after Ledger died of a prescription drug overdose last month. He had been shooting the film up until his untimely death.

According to the BBC, original footage of Ledger may remain while Law, Depp and Farrell will play different incarnations of his character, Tony.

Lindsay Lohan Blames "This Industry" for Heath Ledger's Death



Lindsay Lohan, who was once linked to Heath Ledger and was spotted crying after his passing, is speaking out on the late actor's death.

In the new issue of New York magazine, the actress, 21, poses nearly naked for a recreation of “The Last Sitting,” the last series of photos of Marilyn Monroe.

Lohan calls Monroe's suicide "tragic," adding, "you know, it’s also tragic what just recently happened to someone else.”

Asked if she’s referring to Ledger, Lohan replies, “They are both prime examples of what this industry can do to someone.”

Still, the star, who's been in rehab three times, insists she will not end up like them.

“I'm not them … I sure as hell wouldn’t let it happen to me,” she tells the magazine.

Ledger died of a prescription drug overdose last month. He was in the middle of shooting his final film, The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus.

Jude Law, Johnny Depp and Colin Farrell have recently signed on the replace him.

Heather Mills Makes Final Case for $100 Mil From Paul McCartney



The weeklong divorce hearing between Paul McCartney and Heather Mills has ended.

The judge will be working out a settlement over the next several weeks, the Associated Press reports.

Mills, 40, and McCartney, 65, split in 2006 after four years of marriage.

According to reports, Mills is seeking up to $100 million of the former Beatle's estate, which is estimated at as high as $1.6 billion.

The Britney Effect: The Impact a Year After Her Buzz Cut


Britney Spears, a year ago – and since

A year after her buzz cut seen around the world, Britney Spears's Feb. 16, 2007, antics continue to affect the two owners whose stores she visited that night.

"It was a major disruption in my life," says Esther Tognozzi, owner of Esther's Salon, where Spears shaved her head. "I have tourists come by from other countries, and we keep the door locked since people try and sneak in to take pictures or sit in the chair she sat in."

Tognozzi no longer answers her salon phone (due to the high volume of media calls as well as pranksters) and was forced to hire a lawyer when people started posting Web sites in her name, pretending to pawn off Spears's hair.

"They were using my identity," Tognozzi says, "Talk about an invasion of privacy. I got a little glimpse of her world, and it makes me feel bad for her."

Having been in business for 25 years, Tognozzi has a loyal clientele, and she prefers to take on new customers on via referrals. Still, she will get the occasional fan.

"This idiot came by the other day, and he makes a buzz gesture and asks to get a haircut," she explains. "He said he had come all the way from Canada."

Awaiting Britney's Return
Still in possession of Spears's hair and the buzzer used that fateful night, Tognozzi says she is only waiting for the pop star to retrieve the items herself.

"People offered me quite a bit to buy it, especially in the first 48 hours since they wanted to drug test it," she says. "But it would be nice if she came back and collected it."

Tognozzi is hoping her discretion will pay off for the Etchmiadzin Children's Fund, an Armenian orphanage she works with. "Maybe she'll give me a check to help the orphanage," she muses.

Trouble at Tattoo Parlor
While Tognozzi has her share of pranksters, Dave Rothburgh, the owner of Body and Soul Tattoo in Sherman Oaks, where Spears went after her haircut for two tattoos (a black, white, and pink cross on her hip and red lips on her wrist), had to deal with a more dangerous audience.

"We had stalkers and people calling with death threats," Rothburgh remembers of the months after Spears's visit, "They would leave nasty messages, like, 'We're gonna kill you! How could you do that!"

Chuckling at the thought of doing "$10 million in Spears tattoos", Rothburgh was taken aback, and relieved, by the lack of interest. "We were surprised that we only had one or two people asking for the Britney Spears lips. But even those people do it as a joke, not because they idolize her."

Now, things are pretty much back to business as usual. He says, "You get all the hoopla for a few months, then nobody really cares." Still, Rothburgh admits, "We did have a BBC crew in last week who wanted to look around."

Spencer on Heidi's Album: 'Madonna, Eat Your Heart Out'
By Mark Dagostino



Heidi Montag took a break from her burgeoning pop career to celebrate Valentine's Day with on-again boyfriend Spencer Pratt.

The love-'em-or hate-'em couple spent the weekend frolicking – a la her "Higher" video – around Atlantic City at the Borgata Hotel Casino & Spa.

The weekend was something of a prelude to Pratt and Montag's getting back to business hyping Heidi's much-mocked music career.

"When people hear what we have in the bank, it's gonna blow their minds," her manager-beau boasted. "Madonna, eat your heart out. Britney Spears, eat your heart out. I would say we have diamond records coming – they're gonna sell 10-million plus."

Despite the critical reception of her first single, Montag is set to record a follow-up next weekend.

Pratt, who directed "Higher," said he's handing over the reins to Paul "Coy" Allen, who helmed "Give it to Me" with Justin Timberlake, Timbaland and Nelly Furtado. (Not to worry Pratt fans: He promised he'd also release his own alternate version.)

"We're financing [the album] ourselves on a shoestring budget," Pratt said. "It's so organic. And this is just the warm-up. We're just heating up the water in the bathtub. It's gonna get hot!"

Hot Weekend
As for their hot weekend at the Borgata, the couple arrived Friday night, in time for a decadent dinner at the Bobby Flay Steakhouse, followed by a Matchbox 20 concert – at which the two spent much of the show with their arms around each other.

The following day, they hit the hotel spa for a couple's massage, shopped at the Whim boutique and made an appearance at club Mur.Mur.

"How do we keep romance alive?" Pratt mused to PEOPLE. "Our lives are romantic all day long. With us, it's 24/7, always trying to keep each other happy. [This is] just another weekend to us. Every day is Valentine's Day in our relationship."

The New 'American Idol' Controversy



"American Idol" isn't just for amateurs anymore. According to USA Today, there are a number of contestants in this season's final 24 who've had recording contracts in the not-so-distant past.

KRISTY LEE COOK was once signed with BRITNEY SPEARS' production company, MICHAEL JOHNS' band signed with MADONNA's Maverick label, until they were dropped. And CARLY SMITHSON recorded with MCA. Her debut album made $2 million, but she was dropped for poor sales.

But "Idol" executive producer NIGEL LYTHGOE insists no rules are being broken, saying contestants are just not allowed to currently be under contract. "We're looking for 'great,'" he tells the paper. "And, yes, those people in all likelihood have had dealings with the industry before."